FATHERS' Day may not be the optimum day, in the eyes of some families, to hold a running event, but nevertheless, 18 teams of at least 16 runners, including fathers and grandfathers, mothers and grandmothers, sons and daughters, entered the Cleveland Way Relay from Filey to Helmsley, about 110 miles, on June 20.

Rain had been forecast for days, but in the event, it was only wet for the very early departure from Thirsk to be at Filey for a 5am start, and the rest of the day was good for running. There are 16 "legs" varying in length from just over eight miles down to about 3.5 miles. Each team must have at least one woman, and an all female team is allowed one man. The changeover places are specified but runners can choose their own route, with a few exceptions.

Joe Poole was the first runner for Thirsk and Sowerby Harriers' (TSH) "Compete" A team, standing in at the last minute and valiantly swapping his 4pm start for the 5am slot. He ran a solid leg, handing over to Matt Jones in Scarborough with TSH in fifth place. Matt managed to gain a place before handing over to Paul Peacock at Cloughton Wyke, who headed for Ravenscar to pass the "baton" to Sarah Fairhurst. Sarah's leg was to Robin Hood's Bay, handing on to Ken Wood to continue to Whitby. Next up was Adam Leigh, who ran a strong leg with arguably one of the toughest finishes – 300ft descent down slippery steps to the beach at Runswick Bay, across the beach as the tide was coming in, then up a near-vertical sandy road to hand over to Mile Lowther, waiting 300ft up at the top. The team were in fifth place at this point.

Mike made good progress over to Skinningrove to find Andrew Price waiting to begin his journey of about 8.5 miles and 1,000ft of climb on one of the most difficult legs to Slapewath. Next up was Joe Lofthouse, who really did have the toughest leg of the day with 1,400ft of climb, some of it straight up Roseberry Topping and back down again and back up Little Roseberry. A small navigational error added even more climbing and meant the club were now in sixth place as Brett Edgeworth and Gemma Tutty set off on their leg from Gribdale to Battersby Moor, the last part of "first part" of the relays, and Josh Cooper took the baton on to Clay Bank with the team still in sixth place and three minutes behind fifth-placed NYMAC.

At 2pm there was another mass start to make sure even the slowest teams were in Helmsley in time for the all important fish and chip supper. Gary Bastow took up this leg, only 3.5 miles but with a very steep climb, 1,100ft, over the Three Sisters – perfect terrain for fell runner Gary, and he arrived at Carlton Bank to hand over to Chloe Rome, whose destination was Osmotherley. She ran fantastically well, considering, in her own words, she hasn't run many hills, and gave the team a fighting chance to improver their position. It was on to Trudy Morrice and Alan Simpson – who had done a support leg earlier in the day – to run the team on to Sneck Yate. Trudy arrived looking strong handing over to talisman Rob Burn and Adrian Elsworth for the penultimate leg. Knowing there was a place in the offing, Rob ran a blinder to the Hambleton Inn, by way of the White Horse, with David Fawkes covering the home run in to Helmsley. Dave knew the route well and ran a solid time to finish there at 6.23pm, leaving the team in fifth place overall.

A spokesperson for TSH said: "A big thank you to Mark Brown for organising this marvellous event with no entry fee, but £500 was donated to Cleveland Mountain Rescue, which, like all charities, has had severely reduced funding this year."